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The 10 important highlights of Karnataka elections Result Day

May 16, 2018

Karnataka Assembly elections certainly lived up to the hype created in the run-up to the elections. If the drama and controversy that we saw during the one and a half month of poll campaigning weren’t enough, the elections result day was even more entertaining. The counting of nearly 2.9 crores votes from 222 assembly constituency seats began around 8 in the morning yesterday, the initial trends projected a level pegging competition between the Congress and BJP, but soon, BJP raced ahead of Congress, while JD(S) was slithering away to the third spot. By the end of the day, BJP emerged as the single largest party with 104 seats, followed distantly by Congress with 78 seats, while JD(S) and BSP alliance were restricted to mere 38 seats. Even after hustling and bustling none of the parties could secure the magical figures of 112 seats.

Late political drama unfolded when BJP failed to cross the half-way mark, while Congress announced unconditional support to JD(S) to form the new government in Karnataka, with H D Kumaraswamy as the newly elected Chief Minister of Karnataka.

Both the factions have approached Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala, but the situation has not been resolved yet, as the future of Karnataka and its next government is hanging by the cliff. Here are ten important highlights of the Karnataka elections 2018 results day:

The initial leads showed a neck-and-neck fight between the Congress and BJP, but soon the saffron party raced ahead and at one point the party was looking to breach the half-way mark comfortably as it crossed 100-seats mark.

By the afternoon, things became more clear as none of the parties, including the BJP were crossing the half-way mark of 112 seats.

JD(S) President Kumaraswamy won from both Channapatna and Ramanagaram assembly constituency seats with nearly 20000 votes, while former CM Siddaramaiah won Badami constituency against BJP’s B Sreeramulu and lost to JDS’ G T Devegowda from Chamundeshwari assembly constituency.

Realising that it will be difficult for the Congress party to retain the power in the state, as the grand old party lost nearly 40 seats from their previous tally, the party extended its unconditional support to JD(S) to form the next government in Karnataka.

H D Kumaraswamy emerged as the dark horse in the Chief Ministerial race after accepting Congress’ support, as the JD(S)-Congress coalition stitched together the numbers required to form the government.

Bharatiya Janata Party denounced the subversive act of Congress by going against the electoral mandate and also accused the party of resorting to desperate means in order to stake claim to power through backdoor negotiations through unethical means.

Congress spokesperson was quick to refute the allegations labelled against the party as he cited recent history of Goa, Manipur, and Meghalaya, where even after emerging as the single largest party, the Governors of these states didn’t invite Congress to form the government.

BJP Chief Ministerial candidate B S Yeddyurappa along with Union Minister from Bengaluru South Ananth Kumar reached Governor Vajubhai Vala’s residence to stake their claim to form the next government in Karnataka courtesy of being the single largest party after the electoral mandate.

JD(S) and Congress followed suit, as they reached Raj Bhavan to hand over the letter of support of Congress party and to stake their claim of forming a JD(S) led government and prove the majority on the floor of the house.

Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala is yet to wield his executive power in the matter as he is carefully taking into consideration every aspect, while he will call the party to form the government and stand the test of floor only after consulting his legal advisors.